Beiger Inn owner sues for trust funds

Beiger Heritage president says lawsuit could take away all its income.

Beiger Heritage president says lawsuit could take away all its income.

August 17, 2006

Mansion has 100-year history The Beiger Mansion Inn once was the home of Susie Higgins Beiger, widow of Martin V. Beiger, founder of the company that evolved into Ball Band and eventually into Uniroyal Inc. Planning for the mansion, at 317 Lincoln Way E., Mishawaka, began in 1901. Martin Beiger died in 1903, shortly after construction started, so he never lived there. Susie Beiger halted the work after her husband's death, then resumed it in 1907. In 1909, she moved in, with two of her nieces. She filled her home with treasures she and her husband had bought on their visits to Europe, the Holy Land and the Far East. When she died in 1927, she left an estate of $1.5 million. She designated $200,000 of it for a trust that was to be used to operate her mansion as a home for needy women. It opened for that purpose in 1930, and continued to operate that way until 1967. Beiger Heritage Corp. started as a division of Southold Restorations, but split off in the 1970s when it acquired the mansion. A fire in January 1975 left the mansion with extensive damage, and it was feared the structure was beyond repair. But by the end of the year, restoration was under way. In 1989, Ron Montandon bought the completely furnished mansion from Beiger Heritage for $350,000. He has operated it since then as an inn. Ron Montandon wants money, and he has gone to court for it. The money he is talking about is a one-third share of income produced by a trust fund set up in the 1920s by Susie Beiger. Montandon owns the Beiger Mansion Inn on the east side of downtown Mishawaka. Beiger Heritage Corp., which is the recipient of the one-third share, has not given him a penny since he acquired the mansion 17 years ago, Montandon said. He has made it clear that he doesn't want the money for his own personal use, but for the stated purpose in Beiger's will: the preservation and maintenance of the mansion and its furnishings. James A. Braunsdorf, president of Beiger Heritage, cited the lawsuit in a recent letter to life members that solicits money from them. He referred to the suit, filed in St. Joseph Probate Court, as "a new problem,'' an attempt by Montandon to take away Beiger Heritage's only income. Braunsdorf's letter spells out his group's financial problems caused by the loss of the Tivoli Theater. Beiger Heritage had been trying to save and renovate the downtown theater, but the city ultimately decided to tear it down. That property and its adjacent lots are being cleared now for construction of a drugstore. Beiger Heritage, Braunsdorf said, invested a lot of its money into the Tivoli effort, with the hope that the investment eventually would pay off. "We thought we had an understanding with the city that we could continue if we were making good progress,'' Braunsdorf wrote. He mentioned a $100,000 grant that he said had been approved for that purpose. That provoked a response from Mishawaka Mayor Jeff Rea. In a letter to Braunsdorf dated July 11, Rea said, "Beiger Heritage never provided us with any information about the grant, and Beiger Heritage knew, up front, before the property ever was transferred to them, what role the city would play in the obtaining of funds for renovation.'' During a recent interview, Rea said he thinks the reference to a grant was actually a reference to Build Indiana money, which he described as "pork that went to local government.'' He said he was unaware of any application by Beiger Heritage for such a grant. Now the question is whether Beiger Heritage Corp. remains a viable entity in Mishawaka. That is part of the basis for Montandon's latest attempt to wrestle the money away from it. Another part rests with Montandon's contention that the corporation has started to sell off items from Susie Beiger's estate. The court file contains an article from Preservation Online that refers to Beiger Heritage as "a now defunct historic preservation group.'' But Teri Speiser, vice president/treasurer of Beiger Heritage, said the group remains active and conducts monthly meetings. Beiger Heritage filed a response to the lawsuit denying that it is defunct. It said it has 152 members and provides storage in two facilities for furnishings and other items from the estate. The court record indicates that the income from Susie Beiger's estate is not a great deal of money in today's economy. A trustee report from 2005 said the trust had a balance of $350,237. It listed a disbursement of $3,212 to Beiger Heritage. Beiger Heritage reported that it used the money for office space, a telephone, postage, attorney fees and rental space to store estate items. Its expenses amounted to $3,592, leaving a roughly $380 shortage from the trust money. The cost of storing the Beiger collection is outpacing the income Beiger Heritage gets from the trust fund, Speiser said. Montandon is seeking retroactive payment of the money from the time he acquired the mansion. The court has assigned the dispute to a mediator, with an order to mediate the conflict by Sept. 15. Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.Nancy J. Sulok Commentary Nancy J. Sulok is a Tribune columnist.